Let the onion see the bhaji - Making sure your CV stands out from the crowd

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Like a typical episode of Take Me Out, from afar the girls think they like what they see, they get excited and weak at the knees but soon realise all is not what it seems finding disappointment once again.

A hiring manager doesn’t want to have to turn their light off because they ‘no likey’ – it is your job to make sure that doesn’t happen!

Time and time again the basics are overseen by recruiters & candidates, they have an amazing conversation uncovering a wealth of information to discover they might just have found that unicorn the hiring manager has been describing so well to them.

The recruiter thinks they have scored and they can’t wait to send the CV over and impress the hiring manager but what the manager receives or sees is the equivalent of the girl’s worst nightmare coming down that chute to a hideous choice of music.

They’ve forgotten to make the CV look pretty, they forgot to dress it up all dapper, comb it’s hair, brush it’s teeth and throw a cheeky three sprays of aftershave on and make it a treat for the eyes – in short it doesn’t stand out!

The CV just doesn’t scream suitability.

If you want the hiring manager to keep that light on for you and go to the Isle of Fernandos, here are a few things you’re going to have to prepare.

Your job title has got to be relevant. If you are applying for a Business Analyst role you don’t want to call yourself a Project Manager, it’s misleading & confusing.

Use the recruiter. A good recruiter will know what skills need to be on the CV. Make sure they appear and jump out of the page.

Remember if you had a near death accident, broke all the bones in your body, were in a hospital bed for 6 months with a sick note don’t leave that out of the CV. A career gap has to be explained.

The simplest one yet, dates matching up. If you can’t even make sure the dates match up from one role to another you’re doomed from the start.

Make sure that skills or perhaps technologies that are required for the role have been listed under each job illustrating where and how YOU used them. Countless times you see just a list of ‘key skills’ at the top of the CV but then they are nowhere to be seen. Where did you use these skills?

When explaining the duties of each role you should replace any terms that refer to a team. Swapping we for I indicates accountability, responsibility and that you have first hand experience of the requirements.

Lastly, if you can get a personal statement to include your soft skills and why you would be an asset to the company, this adds personality and demonstrates you have taken time to tailor the CV for this application specifically. Sending the generic ‘I’m an organised individual that can work well in a team or on my own’ is not going to cut it. How about because of ABC required skills and experiences I would be perfect because of XYZ reasons.

So now that you have come down, impressed the ladies with your unbelievable talent and all the lights are on, it’s inevitable you’re going to get the result you turned up for, you’ve got yourself a date!

Alright OK, it’s not for going to a beautiful island but this is a date for an interview, you’re one step closer to your dream job.